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Home > DIY - Tech Tips - Narrow Motorcycle Gas Tank
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| How
to Narrow a Motorcycle Gas Tank by Flat Iron Mike |
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This
article originally appeared on the LFTC forum, and
was written and photographed by Flat Iron Mike. Thanks
to Mike for letting us repost his real nice how-to
on cutting down and narrowing a Sportster tank.
In
my leisure time (?!) I've been wanting to cut down
the Sportster tank I've been threatening to do for
some time now. It's not some high tech execution,
fancy or smooth, but it's the way I do it with the
tools I have. So here goes....
Did
I mention I hate Sportster tanks on anything other
than Sportsters? Cutting 2 1/2" from the middle
and 2 1/2" up from the bottom with the angle
grinder.
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| Jon
Volk was kind enough to 'make ends meet' to determine
if I could continue. Thanks, Jon! Oh yeah, I'm trying
to salvage the paint on this - the factory hand painted
H-D lettering. |
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| Next
up is fabbing the new tunnel/bottom. Looked in McMaster
Carr, but only found 16 ga. (fuck!). Bent the tunnel
over a piece of 2" sched 40 pipe, but the 2 90
deg. bends were impossible by hand. Stopped by a fab
shop around the corner and borrowed the 60 ton press
brake for only 20 clams (?) |
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| Next,
I cut the tunnels in the tank and bung hole (tee hee
hee) using borrowed tools (nibbler and electric snips). |
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| On
to the bottom / tunnel. used the electric snips, dremel
and belt sander to cut and shape the bottom. Also drilled
the petcock (tee hee hee) fitting. |
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I
know, I know, basic stuff, albeit interesting, due
to my caveman technique. Made some tongues to mount
the gtank to the backbone. All I had was some 1/8"
laying around, so it's a beefy set of tongues.
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| Front
and rear... looks okay.. |
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| Speak
with forked tongues.. |
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After
a visit with Jon Volk for final welding, the turkey
is ready for some rattle can over the bare metal bottom
and 'scar' tissue. Final capacity is about 2 gallons.
Hey,
looking like a roller...
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